Life in the trenches was not an easy, everyday type of living.

There was
daily death in the trenches was normal. Death occurred even when there were
no raids occurring. Random shell fire caused random deaths even to those who
were just lounging in the trench. Some were buried alive by the huge shell blast.
There were those who became curious to peak over the trench and were shot by
enemy snipers. It was estimated that up to one third of the deaths happened in
the trenches. In the trenches, rats, frogs and lice were a nightmare. There were
black and brown rats, the soldiers hated them both but the brown ones were
especially bad. It could grow to the size of a cat, by eating on the remains of the
dead. If one rat reproduced it could have up to 900 babies. Lice lived in the
fabric of the clothes and would hatch eggs and the lice would spread. Many
soldiers decided to shave their heads to keep the lice from getting in their hair.
Frogs lived in the shell holes filled with water, all these infestations caused a
spread of disease through the trenches. Soldiers would have a cycle for where
they were placed in the war. They cycled from the front lines to the support to
the reserve lines with a short rest period before starting the cycle over again.
The rest period was the shortest amount of time spent but the times varied on the
person. Every morning the soldiers would wake up and be sent to clean their
rifles which were then expected by an officer. After they passed the inspection
breakfast was served. During this breakfast period a silent truce was made
between the two sides but did not last long. Often if one side heard about what
was happening in the trench then they would try and raid. Each soldier was also

expected to chores which included, refilling the sand bags, fixing the duck boards
and draining the trenches. They had to pump the water out after heavy rainfall to
keep the walls from collapsing. The smell of the trenches were awful due to the
dead, bad smelling waste, unbathed soldiers and the lingering stench of the gas
bombs that have been dropped. All these factors made trench life, a bad life.

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